Growth – CENTURY 21 Realty Partners

2013 Record Year for Houston Area Home Sales

By Realty Partners|2017-03-13T15:54:53-05:00January 26th, 2014|News|

It is no secret that Houston’s economy just keeps pumping, throughout the region both transplants and locals are discovering that buying a home makes sense. Understandably, housing supply has been extremely tight throughout the year. All this growth has driven single-family home sales in the Houston area to the lowest recorded inventory levels. Ever. According to the latest Houston Association of Realtors monthly report, single-family home sales hit a record 73,232 closings in 2013, up an astounding 17.4% over 2012 (itself a very active year). Here’s a look at some statistical highlights from 2013:

The Houston Area recorded 86,000 new jobs created, plenty of those new workers seem to have bought houses.
The Houston Area median home price was $180,000 in 2013, up 9.4% over the previous year.
The Houston Area average home price was a record-setting $265,017, up 10.3% from the previous average of $240,326 a year ago.
Single-family home inventory hit a record low of 2.6 months, meaning that’s how long it would take for the Houston Area to sell every home listed given the current rate of sales. That’s less than the 3.7 months from 2012 and 5.8 months from 2011. A more “balanced” or “typical” market would usually hover around 6 months. This is absolutely a seller’s market.
Total volume of home sales jumped 30.2% to $20.89 billion dollars.

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Texas Economic Boom No Secret Even in UK

By Realty Partners|2017-03-13T15:54:53-05:00May 30th, 2013|News|

The most shared story on the UK website BBC News Magazine right now are the 10 reasons why so many people are moving to Texas. Apparently the good news about Texas is no secret even in Europe. Texas has 5 of the top 10 fastest growing cities in the United States by both absolute numbers and by percentage. Houston had the second largest population increase in absolute numbers according to the US Census with San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, and Forth Worth also breaking into the top 10. In terms of percentage the fastest growing city in the USA was San Marcos with a nearly 5% increase. Number 10 on the list, and the fastest growing city in the Houston area was Conroe with a 4.01% year over year population increase. In terms of new arrivals, Texas led the nation with 210,590 last year, followed by North Carolina with 60,106 and Virginia with 40,844. All this good press is no surprise to us, we’ve already been sharing lots of the good news and facts regarding Texas in general and Houston in particular. If anyone in the UK does decide to pack up and move to Houston, they would be pleased to know that Houston has an office of the British Consulate General downtown on Louisiana Street. One of the many perks of living in a world-class city. Expect to see many more families moving into our neighborhoods.

Here are the 10 reasons, check out the BBC article to find the details […]

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Houston New Home Permits Up 44% To Keep Up With Demand

By Realty Partners|2017-03-13T15:54:53-05:00April 25th, 2013|News|

If you’re looking to buy in the Houston area, expect more and more showings to look like this. House Under Construction by Charles Rondeau As reported by the Houston Business Journal, new residential construction permits in Houston are up 44% since March 2012. These figures were compiled in a report by the Greater Houston Partnership. The city issued a total of $187.3 million worth of permits just for March, compared to $130.2 million for the same month last year.

This comes as no surprise since we have had very tight inventory in nearly every Houston area market. With Houston’s economy running wide open, and continued rise as a global city, the demand for more homes and workplaces will only increase. We have witnessed multiple bid scenarios with several of our listings and we expect supply to further tighten before it increases again.

Where have you seen new construction going up? Have you seen multiple offers on a home? Please tell us in the comments!

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Houston: The Next Great American City

By Realty Partners|2017-03-13T15:54:53-05:00April 8th, 2013|Our Communities|

Here at CENTURY 21 Realty Partners, we always keep an eye out for what the chattering class is saying about Houston. For years, many urban planners have sneered at Houston, dismissing it as merely the center of a sprawling and anarchic metropolitan area. The suburbs, the freeways, the lack of density, the lack of zoning, the poor mass transit, Houston was deemed a backwards and tasteless city that would never amount to much. While gallons of ink has been spilled describing why Houston shouldn’t work, Houstonians have been quietly going to work, living their lives, and building a vibrant urban region. It seems that people are starting to realize what we knew all along: Houston is not just a great place to do business, Houston is a great place to live.

Coming to our intellectual defense is Joel Kotkin, Professor of Urban Development and a Fellow at Chapman University. He has recently penned and article titled, “Houston Rising—Why the Next Great American Cities Aren’t What You Think.” Kotkin’s article applauds us for many of the reasons we already know about, job

s, growth, diversity, culture, opportunity, and many more. What stood out however, was his standards by which he judges a city and his explanation as to why they grow:

“Cities grow primarily because they do what cities were designed to do in the first place: help their residents achieve their aspirations.”

What a simple yet powerful statement. A city is just a physical place where people live in […]

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Live in Montgomery County? Expect More Orange Construction Barrels.

By Realty Partners|2017-03-13T15:54:53-05:00February 26th, 2013|News|

FM 1097 is about to get a little bit bigger.

According to the Montgomery County Courier, FM 1097 in Willis has been approved to be widened by TxDOT. The estimated $3.2 million dollar project will widen the road between I-45 and Texas Highway 75, significantly improving access and safety. Engineers expect the project to be completed in 18 months after construction starts and will add a much needed turning lane to ease traffic. With rapid growth within the Houston Metro Area, and Montgomery County in particular, many roads and intersections are already operating at or over capacity. One of Montgomery County’s most congested intersections may soon be much better.

Further south on I-45 at State Highway 242 near The Woodlands and Shenandoah, plans have been approved for a $33.9 million dollar project to build flyovers allowing traffic to bypass the traffic lights at the feeder street. This in addition to the dozens of road construction projects throughout Montgomery County in the last decade including the widening of I-45 to at least 3 lanes all the way through the county.

Why all this construction? More residents and businesses are relocating to the area. The Houston Area led the nation in Gross Metropolitan Product growth (the total value of all goods and services […]

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Want a raise? Move to Houston.

By Realty Partners|2017-03-13T15:54:53-05:00January 17th, 2013|News|

Where did wages increase the most in 2012? Since this is the official C21 Realty Partners blog, you may not be surprised to learn that it was none other than our fabulous metropolis, Houston (although we did tie with Seattle who also registered 4.8% year-over-year wage growth). Why did H-town lead the nation in wage growth? Just ask the folks at PayScale who track wage rates across the United States: “The largest city in Texas hosts a variety of strong industries, including aeronautics and healthcare, but the boom in the oil and gas industry has had the biggest positive impact on wages in Houston, historically.” With the Houston’s white-hot energy sector and a robust yet diverse economy that features everything from taco trucks to NASA, Houston will be welcoming many more newcomers in the near future. Given the massive new ExxonMobil campus being built just south of The Woodlands, the Houston job market will keep getting stronger. What does this mean for Real Estate? Higher wages equals more prosperity which means more demand for homes and businesses. The perfect time for natives and transplants alike to contact a CENTURY 21 Realty Partners agent.

The PayScale Index: Houston Metro Area by Quarter

© 2013 PayScale, Inc.
The PayScale Index uses 2006 average total cash compensation as a baseline.

Houston Metro Area

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CENTURY 21® is going to Super Bowl XLVII

By Realty Partners|2013-01-31T13:31:52-06:00November 8th, 2012|News|

As many of you may remember, on February 5th of this year CENTURY 21® ran an ad during Super Bowl XLVI that was broadcast before an all-time record television audience of 111 million. In so doing, we became the first real estate company in decades to advertise during the game itself, and brought our SMARTER. BOLDER. FASTER. agents to the forefront of our multifaceted advertising campaign. Athletics and achievement underscores our marketing campaign, which also included advertising in the Preakness and Belmont Stakes, the Olympics, and sponsorship of the US Men’s and Gold Medal winning Women’s Soccer teams. With all of this high profile advertising, the CENTURY 21® brand attracted 1.3 billion (with a “B”) media impressions.

What would be an appropriate encore for such a blockbuster year for our brand? As has already been announced by Bev Thorne, the CENTURY 21 international marketing guru, CENTURY 21 will be at Super Bowl XLVII on February 3, 2013! We will also be sponsoring an hour long pre-game show, and look for the SMARTER. BOLDER. FASTER. real estate professionals showing up at the start of the 3rd quarter.

At CENTURY 21 Realty Partners, we have already created quite a stir in our regional market, and CENTURY 21 International has been raising our profile to never before seen heights nationally and internationally. We look forward to 2013, and continued growth for ourselves and the brand.

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A New Resident Every Five Minutes

By Realty Partners|2017-03-13T15:54:54-05:00August 3rd, 2012|News|

More and more people are calling Houston home.

Anyone who lives in the Houston Area, native or transplant, can’t help but notice the continued growth in the region despite foreign and national economic woes. The folks at the Greater Houston Partnership were able to quantify this growth in their July 2012 economic report:

“The Houston metro area added 110,000 residents over the past 12 months, more than half through natural increase, the remainder from residents moving here from overseas and elsewhere in the United States.” — the Greater Houston Partnership

To put this in perspective, that means that there is a new Houstonian every five minutes! These numbers break down into slightly less than half of these new residents moving in from elsewhere, and the remainder comprised of current residents adding new little members to their families. Either way, Houston is growing, and the reason why can be summed up in one word: Jobs. Again from the Greater Houston Partnership,

“Since June ’11, the private sector has grown by 95,600 jobs, a 4.3 percent increase over the year. Houston matched the combined job creation of Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington (51,600 jobs), Austin-Round Rock, (4,400 jobs), and San Antonio-New Braunfels (10,500 jobs).”

Strong job growth means strong families, strong communities, and a strong housing market. With this growth projected to continue, many are deciding that now is the right time to make a move in Houston’s real estate market. If you are considering buying or selling […]

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